Exclusive: Why the HTC One M8 isn't called the All New HTC One

HTC has explained the thinking behind branding its fresh-off-the-production-line flagship smartphone the 'HTC One (M8)', after months of rumours suggested it would be dubbed the 'All New HTC One'.

We asked HTC's Director of Commercialisation Product Management Graham Wheeler why the phone-maker went with the ‘M8’ suffix that was thought be a codename/working title as the name of the finished product.

He explained: "How we described the name is that ‘HTC One’ is the family and the ‘M8’ is that mark identifier between the model years.

"Last year's phone is now the 'HTC One M7'. We are keeping that heritage, with the HTC One, AKA the most awarded phone of last year, and then evolving it with the new iteration.”

He added:"[It’s] like BMW cars when they changed the 5 series BMW.

"There was obviously a model number that determines the thing; so [after the new model has just come out] when you go into the dealership you ask 'Is that the mark xxx?'. But after a time and that becomes the standard one, people will just ask for the HTC One."

So does that mean you’re rebranding the HTC One from 2013 as the 'HTC One M7'?

Wheeler said: "We're putting the M7 within [the phone’s title] to stop the confusion by having different HTC Ones"

"Are we discontinuing it? No, because there’s still great demand for it."

It’s an interesting approach. But it’s also one we can see leading to confusion. Not least because not only is there scant difference in the phones’ names but they also look nearly identical.

For us there needs to be a stronger identifier. One that more clearly defines that they’re two different handsets with different things to offer.

Not caught up with what the HTC One M8 offers just yet? Check out our coverage from the launch event.

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